Houston, TX -- October 5, 2009
NASA USRP Inspires Students and Helps Improve Their Professional Self Confidence
As stated by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden for the NASA Executive Summit, “inspiring students to believe in themselves” is a top objective among NASA’s challenges to emphasize STEM and reinvigorate STEM education. The NASA Undergraduate Student Research Project has been collecting data directly tied to this objective since Summer of 2008.
The USRP student exit survey asks if “This internship experience increased my professional self-confidence.” Data collected from Summer 2008 – Summer 2009 indicates a strong positive impact on student professional self-confidence. Of the 382 respondents, 97% agreed that the internship experience increased their professional self-confidence.
To further emphasize the impact of NASA internship experiences, over half, 54%, responded that they “strongly agreed.” These survey results capture the positive impact that USRP and other NASA internships have had that align with the administrators’ challenge of helping students improve their confidence and increase their STEM competencies through immersive internship experiences at NASA Centers.
Source: Bryan Dansberry – NASA Project Lead, USRP
